Interview · moment 2 of 23
How Who What Why Was Founded
from Incompetence and Ruthlessness · #8
Audio-only archive episode — no video to seek.
3 minGuest
Baker explains the origin of his site Who What Why, describing frustration with pack journalism, cable news repeating the same breaking-news non-info, and childhood memories of every network running identical Vietnam War stories.
- 2:35Tim introduces the topic of Who What Why and notes the website is getting more attention on social media
- 2:57Tim praises the site for not rushing to publish stories minutes after news breaks, instead doing due diligence
- 3:19Guest contrasts their approach with cable news networks that deploy reporters who know nothing and repeat what anchors already said
- 3:59Guest explains the website came from frustration with how media is supposed to behave when covering stories
- 4:18Guest recalls as a child noticing that Walter Cronkite, David Brinkley, and ABC evening news all covered the identical stories during Vietnam War
- 4:40In journalism, everybody follows the pack, and the New York Times used to set the agenda for the entire country's zeitgeist
- 5:02Guest says he never wanted to be a journalist; he wanted to be well-paid, which never worked out
who what whyNew York Timescable networksTwitterFacebookWalter CronkiteDavid BrinkleyVietnam War